We shall strive more particularly here below in this document to describe the problems and issues existing in the above-mentioned application of the automatic distribution of goods for customers who have placed orders (for example via the Internet). The invention is of course not limited to this special application but is of interest for any application that must cope with proximate or similar problems and issues.
The delivery of goods ordered online is a vital part of e-commerce. In France for example, in context of a surge in the growth of e-commerce, the French postal authority (known as the Groupe La Poste) is planning to deploy one thousand automatic locker systems for the collection or retrieval of parcels throughout French territory by the end of 2016. These will be located at hubs or very busy locations (such as railway stations, shopping centers or again vital points at the centers of densely populated cities).
Automatic locker systems are a novel solution for retrieval or collection of parcels, in addition to existing modes of delivery (home delivery, post office delivery or delivery at an exchange point hosted by a local business). This novel solution is simple, flexible in its use and entirely secured. Thus, a customer who has placed an order on the Internet and opts to have it delivered through an automatic locker receives for example a parcel retrieval code, by e-mail or by SMS when the parcel is available (i.e. when it has been deposited in the automatic locker system by a delivery person or carrier). All he must do then is to go to the automatic parcel locker system and type out the code on a man/machine interface (a keypad or a touchscreen for example) of the automatic parcel locker system to retrieve his parcel.
The advantage of the automatic parcel locker system is that it enables the Web user to retrieve his parcel 24/7. It also makes it possible to differentiate between the time when the item is deposited and its time of retrieval by the customer (separation in time). As in the case of the exchange point, each party makes half of the delivery and does so in a third location (spatial separation). The difference between this approach and the exchange point is that the process is automated and that there are no intermediaries.
In a first known automatic parcel locker technique, the delivery person places each of the parcels in one of the lockers of the automatic locker system. When the customer goes to the automatic locker system and types out his code on the keypad of the automatic locker system, the locker containing his parcel opens automatically.
One drawback of this first known automatic locker technique is related to the goods-loading operation (the loading of parcels for example). The delivery person has to load the different parcels in different lockers of the automatic locker system. There is therefore a need to facilitate the operation for loading goods into the automatic locker system and increase its speed.
Another drawback of this first known technique is related to the operation for retrieving goods (parcels for example). To retrieve his parcels, the customer must move before each of the lockers of the automatic locker system. Moreover, the lockers are placed at different heights which may make them inaccessible to certain customers or make them non-ergonomic (when the lockers are too high or too low). There is therefore a need to facilitate the operation for retrieving goods from the automatic parcel locker and increase the speed of this operation.
In the “PackRobot” (registered mark) solution by the Cleveron company, which is a second known technique, the automatic parcel locker device comprises an area for storing parcels on trays (eight storage columns each containing a plurality of storage cells), a retrieval point for retrieving parcels and handling means to move a tray (with the parcel that it carries) from the storage area to the retrieval point, or vice versa. More specifically, the handling means comprise a lift and a device for horizontal translation in a constant plane.
During a parcel-retrieval operation, the lift looks for a tray (with the parcel that it carries) in one of the storage cells and takes it to the height of the retrieval point. Then, the horizontal translation device takes the tray (with the parcel it is carrying) before an opening in the retrieval point (closed by a door except during the operation for handing over a parcel) thus enabling the user to take the parcel.
The lift and the horizontal translation device are also used for the reverse operation of inserting a parcel into the automatic locker device. In this case, the lift will look for an empty tray in one of the storage cells and take it to the height of the retrieval point. Then, the horizontal translation device takes the empty tray before an opening in the retrieval point, thus enabling the delivery person to place the parcel on the tray. Then, the horizontal translation device makes the tray move back (with the parcel that it is carrying) up to the lift. Finally, the lift places the tray (with the parcel that it is carrying) in one of the storage cells.
One drawback of this second known technique is that, during the insertion and retrieval operations, there is nothing that bars access to other parts of the machine (the automatic locker device) by the delivery person or the customer because of the above-mentioned horizontal translation movement. This second known technique therefore does not guarantee optimum security for the general user or the delivery person.
Another drawback of the second known technique is that it is specific to parcel-type goods that can be handled with trays, and is ill-suited to other types of goods such as those that have to be handled with containers (for example goods in bags or any other type of non-stable goods). Indeed, in the second known technique, the tray (with the parcel that it carries) is transferred towards the retrieval point in a horizontal translation motion along a constant plane, and the base of the parcel is thus always situated at the level of this plane (also called “pick-up level”) for the user placed before the opening of the retrieval point. In fact, the above-mentioned plane in which the tray is shifted horizontally by the horizontal translation device is appreciably aligned vertically to the bottom of the opening of the retrieval point. In other words, the bottom of the parcel (situated on the tray) is appreciably at the level of the bottom of the opening of the retrieval point, thus enabling the user to take the parcel. To be able to place on the tray not a parcel (i.e. the item to be inserted or retrieved) directly but a container containing at least one item to be inserted or retrieved, the above-mentioned plane (“the pick-up level”) should be positioned at a lower level so that the user (the delivery person respectively) is not hampered by the face of the container oriented towards him when he wishes to take (or insert respectively) the item into the container. However, such a “pick-up level”, situated at a lower position, will not be adapted to the original use described above, namely the retrieval or insertion of the parcel. In short, the second known technique does not ensure a pick-up (retrieval) and loading (insertion) operation that is ergonomic regardless of the type of goods (parcel, envelope, bag etc.) and the height of these goods.
Yet another drawback of the second known technique is that it requires the implementation of supplementary automated movements by different devices (vertical movements by the lift and horizontal movements by the horizontal translation device). This increases the complexity of design and the risks of failure (entailing problems of reliability).